Jazzfest Sugarcane And Pecan Ale
Three Notch'd Brewing Co. (Craft Kitchen & Brewery)

I got a can of this beer from the Hampton inn in downtown Roanoke, VA. The beer poured a clear amber with white head that is leaving a nice lace from an overprimed can. The scent had maple syrup and nut presence. The taste was a bit sharp and has acidic sweet flare. The mouthfeel was lighter in body with fizzy carbonation. Overall its not a good beer...I'd trying again from the tap....but not from a can.

 

 

A beer that tastes like it sounds. Pecans and sugarcane. Great mouthfeel with the smoothness. The nuttiness is perfect and no doubting that it is pecan. Smooth mouth feel and a good balance

From the bottom of the can: "canned on 04/23/18"

Appearance: It has a gold body with good clarity and a short white creamy textured head with good retention.

Aroma: There is a light sweet smelling pecan aroma. There is a bit of a maple syrup scent as well. It smells a lot like pecan pancakes. The more often the nose approaches the glass the stronger the aroma becomes. It starts picking up more of a caramel and brown sugar aroma over time.

Taste: Up front there is this very sweet caramel flavor that is extremely decadent. It has a bit of brown sugar flavor and a nutty finish. This is a very sweet and flavorful beer.

Mouthfeel: The body feels towards the upper range of medium with its slightly thick texture and its weighty feel. It feels right for this beer having a nice solid base to support the beer. Carbonation feels a bit low though.

Overall: If you enjoy sweeter beers or what most people would call a "pastry beer" then this is for you. It is light in appearance but heavy in flavor and aroma. It has a bit of weight in the texture as well. It's not a beer that I could probably drink a lot of, given how sweet it is, but it is one that I would certainly buy again and one that I would recommend.

 

 

 

Bottle:
Pours a heavily burnt orange, though closer inspection shows a clarity the deeper color appears to hide. This pour had a dirty white thick collar. Surface coverage is decent, and lacing is fairly strong.

Nose has an amber base (not my favorite) upon which a sweet nutty note is added. It's not quite pecan pie, but reminiscent of it. The sugary notes are brown sugar trying to be molasses, or maybe brown sugar with some rich honey. There's a rotting pumpkin tang component in there that isn't appetizing, but also probably isn't as bad as that description, either (plus it's just part of the nose).

Taste doesn't have the body the sweet notes of the beer might indicate. Not syrupy at all, though considering the 5%, that starts to make sense. Opening sweetness is actually subdued in some sips, yielding a raw yam/sweet potato note more than a more sugary fruit/vegetable note. The pecans seem to hide until the end... I think they're present, but that tangy beer note grabs my attention. This note is citrus hop in nature - though not overly bitter - tangy to tart. The later notes, after the light carbonation fizzles out, brings out the pecan. While the sugar cane thankfully doesn't pull in the sugar/custard of the pie, there is a little nod to it.

An interesting beer, but one that didn't really grab me, I think I see where it wanted to go, but it got about halfway there. Luckily it didn't become a mess going for an oddball concept, but it seemed to be in between nailing it and messing with a decent base beer.

L: Poured from a bottle to a pint glass. Had an amber color and a clear texture. There was an inch and a half foamy, off white, fairly long-lasting head. Good lacing.

S: A very nice aroma of pecans, malt, sugar, and some caramel as well.

T: Tasted of a fair amount of caramel, a whole bunch of pecans (definitely the dominant ingredient), light caramel notes, some of the advertised sugarcane, and light hops. Definitely an unusual flavor for an amber ale, with the addition of pecans and sugarcane. This works oddly well.

F: A good amount of carbonation with a smooth finish. Medium-bodied.

O: This is the sort of beer that might not please everyone, but is somehow enjoyable. Very much drinkable.

 

Pours coppery to amber in color, with just a bit of haze. I can read through it if I hold my glass right up to my screen. An initial 5 finger head from a hard pour, settling to a 3 finger mounding light tan head by the time I got half of the bottle in the glass. Carbonation is evident. The head becomes chunky and cratered as it recedes leaving tendrils of thick sticky lacing.

The aroma is sweet malt and toffee with light pecan. It almost smells like maple syrup at times, though I know it's the Steen's. Occasional bursts of rich pecan pralines.

The taste is like pecan pralines. Toffee again, but verging on caramel. The initial taste is almost more tart than sweet, but then comes the burst of sweetened pecans. Light bitter hops in the finish.

Medium plus in body. Fairly crisp, but creamy. Then syrupy, not surprisingly. Good retention.

This is a great beer. The best pecan beer I've ever had. Easy drinking with great taste and aroma.

 

 

 

Poured a clear, copper body with one-finger head and left minimal lace. The aroma is sugary and not much else (not really getting the pecans or any malts/hops). Medium-bodied, sweet and slightly syrupy and sticky at times, the beer, in my opinion, is a borderline dessert beer (like dessert wine) and too sweet for some. Not too sweet for me, though, and the pecans and sugarcane flavors are both tasted and dominant for a really sweet but not cloying beer. Barely any malts are discernible and just a touch of hops on finish with a crisp, dry finish to try to offset some sweetness but doesn't achieve that task (not a bad thing).